The government shutdown is back, and this time it has directly affected the schedule for releasing U.S. employment data. I just saw a notice from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics that the January employment report, originally scheduled for February 6, will be delayed, and the December job vacancy report will also be postponed.

This is not the first time this has happened. The record-breaking 43-day shutdown last fall directly disrupted the rhythm of key economic data. At that time, the September non-farm payroll data was delayed until November, and the data for October and November were combined and released together in December. Now it’s happening again, and the market’s hunger for U.S. employment data is even stronger.

The problem is that the current economic signals are really quite contradictory. On one hand, GDP grew at the fastest pace in two years from September to November, indicating a strong economy. But on the other hand, the labor market seems somewhat weak — since March, the average monthly job gains have only been 28,000, which is nowhere near the post-pandemic surge of 400,000 jobs per month. Major companies like Amazon and UPS have also been laying off workers on a large scale recently, raising doubts about the true state of the labor market.

Economists are now pondering what this all means. Some believe hiring will accelerate to match economic growth, while others think economic growth will slow down to accommodate the softening employment market. There’s also a third possibility — that advances in AI and automation could allow the economy to continue growing rapidly without creating many new jobs. If this hypothesis is correct, it would have profound implications for the labor market.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said last month that the unemployment rate has improved and economic growth has accelerated, but the delay in releasing U.S. employment data this time will make it harder for policymakers and market participants to accurately assess the true state of the labor market. Without these key data points, decision-making will certainly become more difficult.